The colour dipole approach to small-x processes

We explain why it is possible to formulate a wide variety of high energy (small-x) photon-proton processes in terms of a universal dipole cross section and compare and contrast various parameterizations of this function that exist in the literature.Comment: 6 pages, latex, 2 figures. Contribution to Durham Collider Workshop (Sept 99) proceeding

High-p⊥p_\perp Jets in Diffractive Electroproduction

The diffractive production of high-$p_{\perp}$ jets in deep-inelastic scattering is studied in the semiclassical approach. The $p_{\perp}$-spectra of $q {\bar q}$ and $q {\bar q} g$ diffractive final states are found to be qualitatively different. For $q {\bar q}$ final states, which are produced by `hard' colour-singlet exchange, the $p_{\perp}$-spectrum is much softer than for $q {\bar q} g$ final states, where the colour neutralization is `soft'. Furthermore, the two different final states can be clearly distinguished by their diffractive mass distributions.Comment: 9 pages, latex, 5 figure

A QCD analysis of diffractive deep-inelastic scattering data

We perform a novel type of analysis of diffractive deep-inelastic scattering data, in which the input parton distributions of the Pomeron are parameterised using the perturbative QCD expressions. In particular, we treat individually the components of the Pomeron of different size. We are able to describe simultaneously both the recent ZEUS and H1 diffractive data. In addition to the usual two-gluon model for the perturbative Pomeron, we allow for the possibility that it may be made from two sea quarks.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. Version published in Eur. Phys. J.

Diffractive Parton Distributions in the Semiclassical Approach

Recently, a semiclassical approach to diffraction has been proposed, which treats the proton as a classical colour field. The present paper demonstrates that this approach is consistent with the concept of diffractive parton distributions. The diffractive quark and gluon distributions are expressed through integrals of non-Abelian eikonal factors in the fundamental and adjoint representation respectively. As a by-product, previously calculated diffractive cross sections for processes with a final state gluon are rederived in a simpler way.Comment: 19 pages LaTeX, 2 figures included, uses psfi

Diffractive parton distributions from perturbative QCD

The asymptotic collinear factorisation theorem, which holds for diffractive deep-inelastic scattering, has important modifications in the sub-asymptotic HERA regime. We use perturbative QCD to quantify these modifications. The diffractive parton distributions are shown to satisfy an inhomogeneous evolution equation. We emphasise that it is necessary to include both the gluonic and sea-quark t-channel components of the perturbative Pomeron. The corresponding Pomeron-to-parton splitting functions are derived in the Appendix.Comment: 34 pages, 13 figures. Version published in Eur. Phys. J.

Saturation Effects in Deep Inelastic Scattering at low Q2Q^2 and its Implications on Diffraction

We present a model based on the concept of saturation for small $Q^2$ and small $x$. With only three parameters we achieve a good description of all Deep Inelastic Scattering data below $x=0.01$. This includes a consistent treatment of charm and a successful extrapolation into the photoproduction regime. The same model leads to a roughly constant ratio of diffractive and inclusive cross section.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures, Latex-fil

Energy Dependence of the Contribution of Pion Exchange to Large-Rapidity-Gap Events in Deep Inelastic Scattering

We study the energy dependence of the contribution of pion exchange to large-rapidity-gap events in deep inelastic scattering. The results show that this contribution can be quite significant at low energy and that the LRG events observed by E665 collaboration in \mu Xe and \mu D interactions at 490 $GeV$ can be reasonably well described in terms of meson exchange. We also show that the distribution of the maximum rapidity for all hadrons is quite different from that for charged hadrons only and that the former exhibits also shoulder-like structure for events at 490 $GeV$ similar to that at HERA.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, Phys. Rev. D (in press

Skewed Parton Distributions and F_2^D at beta -> 1

We show that the diffractive structure function is perturbatively calculable in the domain where the diffractive mass is small but still outside the resonance region. In this domain, which can be characterized by Lambda^2/Q^2 << 1-beta << (Lambda^2/Q^2)^1/2, the structure function represents a new observable, which is highly sensitive to the small-x skewed gluon distribution. Our leading order calculation and the estimate of next-to-leading order corrections are consistent with available data and demonstrate the potential of more precise data to put further constraints on skewing effects.Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX, including five PostScript figure

The QCD description of diffractive processes

We review the application of perturbative QCD to diffractive processes. We introduce the two gluon exchange model to describe diffractive qq(bar) and qq(bar)g production in deep inelastic scattering. We study the triple Regge limit and briefly consider multiple gluon exchange. We discuss diffractive vector meson production at HERA both at t = 0 and large |t|. We demonstrate the non-factorization of diffractive processes at hadron colliders.Comment: 39 pages, 14 figures, LaTeX, new references added and some discussion clarifie

On the exciton binding energy in a quantum well

We consider a model describing the one-dimensional confinement of an exciton in a symmetrical, rectangular quantum-well structure and derive upper and lower bounds for the binding energy $E_b$ of the exciton. Based on these bounds, we study the dependence of $E_b$ on the width of the confining potential with a higher accuracy than previous reports. For an infinitely deep potential the binding energy varies as expected from $1 Ry$ at large widths to $4 Ry$ at small widths. For a finite potential, but without consideration of a mass mismatch or a dielectric mismatch, we substantiate earlier results that the binding energy approaches the value $1 Ry$ for both small and large widths, having a characteristic peak for some intermediate size of the slab. Taking the mismatch into account, this result will in general no longer be true. For the specific case of a $Ga_{1-x}Al_{x}As/GaAs/Ga_{1-x}Al_{x}As$ quantum-well structure, however, and in contrast to previous findings, the peak structure is shown to survive.Comment: 32 pages, ReVTeX, including 9 figure